No-confidence motion against Alyani to be presented on Oct 20, says Balochistan Assembly speaker

The Balochistan Assembly speaker and disgruntled members of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), who have been demanding Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani's resignation, said on Friday that a no-confidence motion against the embattled provincial chief executive would be presented in the assembly on October 20.

The announcement comes a day after Alyani met Prime Minister Imran Khan and expressed faith that a no-confidence motion filed against him by his own party members would fail.

Speaking to the media in Quetta, Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo said the no-trust motion would be presented on October 20 and a vote on it would "reveal with whom the majority stands".

"If Jamal Kamal is willing to contest [us], he may go ahead," the speaker remarked. He added that after the no-trust motion, efforts would be made to unite members of the BAP.

Bizenjo said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement, an alliance of opposition parties, did not play a role in the decision to move the no-confidence motion, adding that those supporting the move would not change sides.

In fact, those supporting Alyani will join us, he said.

On Alyani claiming to be the party head, he said the chief minister had resigned as the BAP chief and after the appointment of an acting party president, his decision to retract his resignation "could not be justified".

He further stated that attempts were being made to "create a misleading political situation in Balochistan".

Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, who has been appointed as the acting BAP chief, also spoke to the media and said that Ayani had left the party's presidentship of his own will. "Legally, he is no longer the party president," he added.

Meanwhile, Alyani berated the Balochistan Assembly speaker for not remaining impartial.

"I would strongly suggest to [Bizenjo] to realise his oath as [the] speaker of the parliament, where his responsibility [is] to conduct himself ... [in an] impartial [manner] as [the] speaker and the grace of the seat [should] be preserved," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Zia Ullah Langau also said there was no danger to the Alyani government and that the chief minister had the majority's support.

"Only a few people are against the chief minister, the rest of the assembly members support Jam Kamal," he said.

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Fully vaccinated people now allowed to visit cinemas, shrines: NCOC

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday announced that fully vaccinated individuals can now visit cinemas and shrines.

The decision was made during an NCOC meeting headed by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

During the meeting, the forum reviewed the coronavirus situation in Pakistan in proportion to the level of complete vaccination in each district.

The forum stressed that people must get themselves vaccinated, considering it a national obligation.

It abolished the mandatory weekly one-day closure, allowing businesses to operate seven days a week.

A statement issued by the NCOC said that the decision to lift the restriction of safe-days has been made keeping in view the decline in the spread of virus and ongoing vaccination drives in the country.

Moreover, the restriction pertaining to the number of guests in indoor weddings has been eased, with 300 guests now allowed instead of the previous 200.

Outdoor weddings and events can now have 500 guests.

The latest changes in restrictions will come into force from October 16 and remain imposed till October 31.

The restrictions will be reviewed in an NCOC meeting on October 28.

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US to send another 2.4m doses of coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan

The US government will ship 2.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan on Thursday, bringing the total number of doses sent to the South Asian country to about 18.3 million, more than any other country, a White House official said.

The latest shipments of the vaccine lots made by Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech, are due to arrive on Saturday via the Covax distribution program, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified.

Pakistan has administered at least 93.6 million doses so far, according to data compiled by Reuters. Assuming every person needs two doses, that would suffice to have vaccinated about 21.6 per cent of the country's population.

Previous US shipments of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have gone to Pakistan every month since June.

The shipment is part of an ongoing US vaccine diplomacy effort that has sent vaccines to dozens of countries.

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Shaukat Tarin's tenure as finance minister ends today

The government on Friday decided to appoint Shaukat Tarin as the Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, as his six-month tenure as the finance minister is expiring today.

Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to give the approval regarding the change in Tarin's designation soon, sources added.

The finance minister was supposed to get elected as a senator — a prerequisite to continue as finance minister — as the six-month time limit to elect him as a member of the Parliament is expiring today.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had appointed Tarin as the finance minister in a federal cabinet reshuffle, replacing Hammad Azhar — only a few weeks after he was given the portfolio.

As the finance minister's six-month term ends, as per law, Tarin will not be able to chair the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and other cabinet committees.

Once Tarin has been elected as a senator, he will get his finance ministry portfolio back, sources added.

Tarin is currently in Washington for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank and the policy talks for the $6 billion loan programme between the IMF and Pakistan.

Policy talks between Pakistan and the IMF will also conclude today.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier, the government had de-seated Ishaq Dar intending to elect Tarin to this vacant seat but the matter had ended up in the court. Tarin’s close aides had said that he might be elected to the Senate in the first 10 days of October.

It is pertinent to mention here that the finance minister's name was also mentioned in the recent exposé on offshore companies held by powerful individuals across the world, including Pakistani politicians, "Pandora Papers".

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Rs1.39 increase in power tariff will be applicable from Nov 1: Hammad

The government has decided to increase the power tariff keeping in view the soaring circular debt of Pakistan, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said on Friday.

Speaking during a press conference in Islamabad along with the State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, Azhar said that this increase in power tariff of Rs1.39 will be applicable from November 1.

"We now have the capacity to generate enough electricity, therefore we want to increase the demand. We introduced an industrial package last year which has been successful as we have seen a 15% increase in demand," the minister said.

"Meanwhile, we have also seen a 6-7% increase in the demand for electricity as the peak hours for the industrial sector have been removed."

The minister said that keeping in view the success of this package, the government decided to introduce another package — known as the seasonal electricity package — under which consumers who use an extra unit compared to their last year's usage will get an extra discount.

Shedding light on further steps, he said that the government has closed old generation companies (gencos), while the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has also revised its target from 15% to 13%.

"Despite all this, there is a difference between Rs1.5 to Rs2 in the rate at which the government is purchasing and selling electricity, this is the reason behind surging circular debt," he said.

"A major chunk of circular debt is because of capacity payments. And because of the wrong decisions taken by the previous governments, we have to increase the power tariff," he said, adding that the government had proposed to NEPRA that the power tariff should be increased by Rs1.49 per unit.

"This increase in power tariff will not be applicable to the lifeline and domestic consumers — who use less than200 units of electricity — hence, this increase is not applicable on the 46% of the consumer base," he clarified.

Moreover, this will not affect the seasonal electricity package or the industrial package.

Worldwide gas crisis

Azhar said another major issue the country is facing is related to the shortage of gas.

“Currently, the entire world is facing a gas crisis — whether it's a developed country or an under-developed country — because the supply of gas has been affected due to COVID-19, while prices also surged,” he added

“Pakistan, however, did not face such an intense gas crisis,” the minister said, adding that the government is working on the North-South Gas Pipeline Project with Russia.

"We are also planning to change the law to provide LNG to domestic consumers,” he said. “The government will not curtail demand without ensuring proper gas supply.”

He continued: "In order to resolve the gas crisis issue, we are blocking all ongoing and future gas schemes.”

New pricing mechanism in pipeline

The minister wrote on Twitter: "Local gas reserves depleting at a rate of 9% per annum."

The government does not have legal mechanism to collect costs of imported gas from consumers, he said, adding, "We have forged a consensus on new pricing mechanism but till its legislation, government is halting all expansion in domestic gas networks."

 "Currently, the provision of piped gas to domestic households is 28% of all households," he tweeted.

 

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Microsoft shutting down LinkedIn in China

Microsoft is shutting down its LinkedIn service in China later this year after internet rules were tightened by Beijing, the latest American tech giant to lessen its ties to the country.

The company said in a blog post Thursday it has faced a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.

LinkedIn will replace its localized platform in China with a new app called InJobs that has some of LinkedIn’s career-networking features but will not include a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles.

LinkedIn in March said it would pause new member sign-ups on LinkedIn China because of unspecified regulatory issues.

Chinas internet watchdog in May said it had found LinkedIn as well as Microsoft’s Bing search engine and about 100 other apps were engaged in improper collection and use of data and ordered them to fix the problem.

 

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OGRA recommends Rs 5.90 increase in petrol price

Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has recommended Rs 5.90 per litre increase in the price of petrol. The authority forwarded a summary to the Petroleum Division in which it suggested increasing the price of petrol by Rs5 per litre from October 16.

It also recommended an increase of Rs10 per litre in the price of high-speed diesel.

The final decision in this regard will be taken by the Ministry of Finance after it consultation with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

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